KENT ASSOCIATION OF SCOTTISH SOCITIES Minutes of the 237th Committee Meeting & AGM held at Cobtree Hall, Maidstone on Tuesday 5 th October 2010, at 8.0pm. PRESENT: Muriel Greenstead Chairman T.Wells RSCDS Roger Brown Vice-Chairman Orpington Kate Penny Secretary Medway Helen Knell Events Co-ordinator Sheerness Jane Whittington Events Co-ordinator Meopham Ken Hamilton Past Chairman Deal / Canterbury S.S (&Website Manager) Andrew Helbling Canterbury St Andrews David How Meopham Tom Carter Sidcup Nigel Hewitt North Kent Wendy Carter Sidcup Pat Harris Sevenoaks Lis Bowden Medway Carolyn Walder Cobtree Sheila Brown Orpington Bert Whittaker Sittingbourne David Papa Isle of Thanet /Cant St Andrews Betty Anne Taylor Sittingbourne Pat Ansell Isle of Thanet --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- 1. CHAIRMAN S REMARKS ACTION The meeting started at 8.05 pm. The Chairman welcomed everyone to the 237th Committee Meeting and AGM, her last meeting in the chair. The attendance book had been signed as members arrived and was left on the table for those arriving later. 2. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from:- Bob Hunt, Alan French, Bill MacFarlane, Trevor Graves and Paula Dyke. 3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING No. 236th Committee Meeting held on 23rd March 2010. The minutes of the previous meeting were proposed, seconded, agreed unanimously and signed by the Chairman. 4. MATTERS ARISING From the Minutes - A) Vulnerable Adults Policy. Nigel had originally asked if some sort of good practice could be added to the child protection policy. The Secretary had contacted the RSCDS, whom themselves were yet to form any recommendations or guidelines. The Executive Officer, Elizabeth Foster did however state in her email 19 th May, that where vulnerable adults may be present, they should be the responsibility of the carers, who should remain at the event. Therefore it was agreed to put the following statement onto the website, for clubs to refer
to. The Vulnerable Adults Policy would be to welcome them when ever practicable, but to make it KH plain that they remain the responsibility of their carers at all times. B) 60 th Anniversary May Ball. This would be discussed later under Event Co-ordinators Report. ( Item 9, (d)) C) Risk assessment. Helen reported that this was in place at the clubs and operating well, with no hassle. Roger felt he wanted to revise the original spreadsheet that Helen had instigated. HK/RB 5. K.A.S.S. EVENTS Deferred to item 9. (d) 6. KASS DIARY The Diary is up to date and the Secretary had printed a copy of the latest issue for the meeting, one for each club, the address list cannot be issued until the new officers have been elected at this meeting. 7. KASS NEWSLETTER The Chairman read Alan s letter to the meeting. He is still looking for items for the News Letter. Any snippets of news from groups, demos, trips, open days, articles on holidays. He would also like photos of the Walk and Tea Dance. Nigel had some he can send. All these will hopefully encourage members to make an effort to come to the events. Ken will be taking a photo of Roger as the New KASS Chairman, to be included with a brief profile. He would also like something about the 60 th Anniversary Ball, to help advertise it, since this is the only News Letter before the event. HK/JW 8. KASS WEBSITE A chart of the various website information was passed around, one will be kept with the minutes in the file. The Website manger reported that there was a marked growth of people returning to the KASS website, from 556 to 727, because of the clubs advertising dances and mini cribs. The most popular pages are the Home page, Orpington, North Kent, KASS pages and Sidcup. The most popular download is the KASS Diary and mini crib. Andrew Helbling reported that Firefox Browser was not working and Ken said he would investigate. KH Linda McRichie had queried the KASS Diary where her dates for 2012 were missing, Ken promised he would look into this. KH David How asked if the News Letters were down loaded by visitors to the site, this was confirmed, but there were no figures to indicate numbers. David appealed to the clubs to make sure News Letters were widely distributed, as they were an advert for KASS. Roger wanted to encourage members to the routine of using the KASS website. Muriel thanked Ken for all he does. 9. REPORTS from the OFFICERS for the year 2009/2010
a) Chairman - Four years have passed since Iain Kinnear and Ken Hamilton tackled me - on the floor and shouting for help - I agreed to become the Vice Chairman! Surely someone more worthy would come forward and oppose me, but no such luck. I have had a wonderful four years, mainly because of some superb volunteers supporting me. They are all volunteers and we need more of you to come forward. At present we are without a Vice Chairman. Please come along and support Roger Brown who succeeds me. Since last October the KASS events have been extremely successful socially even though attendances were lower the enthusiasm was high. Please support these events, I promise you will have a great time. Walking or dancing, bring the family, especially to the Tea Dances and Walk. I know we are all busy but these events are advertised months in advance, so put them in your diary now and refuse all other invitations! Our hosts in the past year are to be congratulated. We organised the events in different areas of the county, centralised the May Ball and made the Autumn dance movable. This gives everyone a chance and we hope that booking recording bands from Scotland and England will encourage you to come along and also visitors from societies outside Kent. The host societies work very hard when organising an event with some innovative ideas such as cream teas at Meopham, making them a profit and a donation to KASS, and a delicious tea after the walk at Langton Green. Perhaps you could organise a cream tea or just surprise us! We need you to support the events or we will lose them. My dream hasn t yet come true when I see car loads of dancers travelling from East to West and North to South. I am indebted to the committee who have supported me during this year. Kate Penny who is retiring as Secretary at this AGM, has been supportive in supplying me with the diary of events and details of e-mails which I don t have access to. Trevor our Treasurer, who has excelled and exceeded his remit in providing us with clear accounts and also forecasting our commitments for costing in the future. My thanks also go to our two voluntary Accounts Checkers, David How and Brian Knell. Helen and Jane our Events Co-ordinators who inherited some pre-booked events and have obtained some new hosts and venues. They had also printed tickets and flyers, but they need your input. Alan s third News Letter was a sizzler, the best I have seen, the photo s were excellent and the contents interesting and very amusing! The Past Chairman Ken has done stirling work with the website and he has offered to instruct anyone interested in learning more. I m told that he has had some take up. Ken hasn t been well so a special thanks and best wishes, Ken. It s helpful to have a keen Vice when in the chair and Roger has been very enthusiastic and I wish him well in the two years as Chairman. The Dover / Deal dance held on the 2 nd October was the last I attended as Chairman and it struck me that perhaps this could be the way forward, with two or more clubs joining to share the cost of an event with a live band. Memberships are falling so combining not only for club events, but also for KASS events with sharing could be an option. Let us join together for friendship and the love of Scottish traditions and Scottish Country Dancing. Let's visit other events and mix ideas - ask for help from each other and KASS, anything, but above all be friendly and welcoming. Happy dancing in the 2010-2011 season, our Jubilee Year. b) Treasurer - Trevor was absent through illness and David How read his report. Copies of the accounts were sent around and a copy will be kept on file with these minutes. All the details of the events, Insurance, Bank charges and interest, donations and other expenses were listed. The comprehensive accounts and cheques were all in hand and had been thoroughly checked by both David How and Brian Knell. Trevor had done a marvellous job of getting all the costings together and it was proposed that any questions could be left to the next meeting when
Trevor could then answer them. As it was the May Ball had not been such a loss as expected. The finances of the Association remain sound and therefore the level of subscription should remain at 15.00 for the coming year. c) Secretary The Secretary thanked everyone for their support during the last three years and Nigel for volunteering to take over the post. She hoped they would all give him the same encouragement and help she had received during her time as Secretary. Everyone had been kind and understanding, especially as she struggled with some of the technical problems with her computer, as it refused to be compatible with a few of their formats. She went on to congratulate all the KASS officers for their efforts this year and to especially express her thanks in particular to Muriel for the wonderful job she has done as our KASS Chairman over the last two years. Muriel had worked diligently in promoting all the KASS events and few could match her tireless efforts in encouraging the various clubs to attend other clubs events. Thank you Muriel. d) Events Co-ordinators Jane read out the KASS EVENTS REPORT for 2009-2010 KASS Autumn Dance. 14th November 2009. The Malling School, Maidstone. Hosted by Medway. This was the first event Helen and I had organised although primary arrangements had been made by Sandy and Jess. The dance was well supported with the Robin Ellis band playing for the event. Raffle sales were extremely good due to Mo Dalton s friend Peter enthusiastic selling of tickets. The issue of the car park lighting which went off quite early, was resolved for the KASS May Ball with co-operation of the caretaker. KASS Spring Tea Dance. 18th April 2010. The Village Hall, Meopham. Hosted by Meopham. Held on a very sunny and warm afternoon the event proved popular with 55 dancers and non-dancers including some young dancers from the Medway group. David How hosted the afternoon. The cream teas sales went down very well with many guests who kept coming back for extras. KASS Highland Ball. 8th May 2010. The Malling School. Hosted by Orpington. Orpington did an amazing job with plenty of club volunteers to help set up the event. 119 dancers attended the Ball which was enjoyed by everyone. Sandy Nixon and his band enhanced the evening with their wonderful playing. The catering and service was superb, although the meal was a little late in starting. The caterers have been booked again for the KASS Diamond Ball in 2011. The colour coded table plan avoided confusion and delay in seating times. A few issues are to be resolved for next year. The position of the Bucks Fizz table blocked empty seats and left guests looking for somewhere to sit, also the arrival drink period went on far too long. An earlier start of the supper would avoid a late start for dancing. School drama equipment was left in the dance studio being used for the dining area, resulting in the Orpington members and others having to remove it. This last issue has already been addressed with the school who were unaware that equipment had been left in the room. KASS Walk 27 th June 2010. Langton Green, Tonbridge. Hosted by Tunbridge Wells & Crowborough. It was a very hot day which may have contribute to the numbers attending, 24 in all. Two walks, one short and one long which was led by George Daly. The long walk which I attempted was interesting and full of surprises as we trekked along lanes and fields. Some of the things we encountered were the view of the Spa Valley railway plus steam train and a display by the Red Arrows flying over Groombridge Place. There was a welcome stop at the pub
in Groombridge village and an even better surprise was awaiting us back at the hall when we finished the walk. A full complimentary tea awaited us which was prepared by Tunbridge Wells & Crowborough ladies which included a selection of sandwiches, home made scones and various delicious cakes! We were certainly rewarded for our long trek on an extremely hot afternoon. KASS Autumn Tea Dance. 26 th September. Goldsmid Hall Tudeley. Hosted by RSCDS Tunbridge Wells The dance was attended by 32 dancers, with only 2 or 3 non dancers. Those who attended were warmly welcome by the host club and everyone enjoyed the afternoon. George Daly was MC who walked all the dances through on request. I am sure he was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the afternoon. Everyone thanked him for doing such a great job. Future KASS events KASS Autumn Dance. 13 th November. Tonbridge School for Girls. Sevenoaks Reel Club is hosting the event. The band is Robin Ellis and tickets are ready for sale at 9 + a plate of food. Helen had tickets for this on sale this evening. KASS Diamond Ball. 14 th May 2011. Malling School. Cobtree is hosting the event. Frank Reid s band is booked for the occasion. Any suggestions welcomed from clubs as to arrangements to make it special. Future Bands Caledonian Reelers is booked for 2011 Autumn dance. Craigallichie band is booked for 2012 Highland Ball and Marian Anderson is booked for 2013 Ball. We are looking for clubs to help host these events. Helen and I are only too pleased to run details. We URGENTLY need a host for the Autumn Dance 2011. A short discussion followed, with Jane asking if anyone could think of ways to make the Ball special, without too much cost, or affecting the ticket prices. Whilst all costs go up, the income of our dancers does not. All the small expenses add up and the money belongs to the association. One idea was not to have a piper, but since a Ball is a quality event the meeting voted to keep the piper. With enough in the funds, the question about the need to break even on the event, was raised. The Treasurer has always preferred to retain an amount to cover a complete failure and while correct to be prudent, it was also argued that since the money has come from the dancers and it would be nice to give something back. It was pointed out that despite the idea that Sandy Nixon would be a magnet for dancers, it had not drawn in people from outside and there was concern about the numbers attracted to the next band. Although Pat Ansell told us that her members would look at the band, before deciding to travel to a dance. Helen suggested ways of improving the walk it would be helpful if it could fund itself, by either having the hall booked for less hours or a change in the costs of teas. She was willing to lead a walk if we could find a host club. It was already suggested that the cost at Tea Dances would have to go up to 2.00. Muriel thanked the Co-ordinators for all they had done. 10. ELECTION of OFFICERS. The immediate Past Chairman removed her chain of Office, to conduct the election of the officers. Chairman - Roger Brown Proposed by Wendy Carter Seconded by Pat Harris. Muriel Greenstead then presented the chain of Office to Roger Brown. He then took the chair for the rest of the meeting.
The new chairman thanked Muriel for what she had done over the last two years, having been very active, visiting numerous clubs and frequently attending Orpington, his own club. She had also recognised the need for KASS to follow other Scottish Dancing organisations by inviting Scottish bands to play at KASS events. She very generously made a substantial contribution to both funding the 2009 Spring Ball and making a donation to Demelza House. Muriel has been very active in helping set up affordable events, together with the Event Co- ordinators and Treasurer. With Sandy Nixon we had an excellent Ball and we have top bands booked for the next three years. We thank Muriel for moving us up a gear. As the Vice Chairman it gave him a chance to see how KASS worked. Because it may be difficult to travel and fit everything in, he may miss a few dances while visiting relations in New Zealand. We should consider what we really need from the Chairman and Vice Chairman. The Officers plan events and help in running them. The KASS reps are the main link with groups in the society and have a key role in informing their own members of events that KASS are running. We should try to find a Vice Chairman. Treasurer - Trevor Graves. Proposed by Muriel Greenstead Seconded by Ken Hamilton Secretary - Nigel Hewitt Proposed by Kate Penny Seconded by David Papa Newsletter Editor - Alan French volunteered to continue. Events Co-ordinators - Jane Whittington and Helen Knell have volunteered to continue. All the above officers were voted in by the members, unanimously and the Chairman thanked everyone and welcomed the new Secretary to his post. Website manager - Ken has offered to continue to run the website for KASS. 11. Appointment of Checkers. David How and Brian Knell are willing to continue as our checkers and were reappointed. David How mentioned that Trevor was thinking of making this his last year as Treasurer. 12. Bank Mandate. There will need to be changes in the bank Mandate, to take Kate off and put Nigel on. Other signatories remain, namely; Muriel, Roger and Trevor. 13. Set the level of subscription for the year 2009/2010. As mentioned earlier, the Treasurer suggests that the subscription should remain at 15 for the coming year. Proposed by Trevor Graves. Seconded by Helen Knell and all were in agreement. 14. ANY OTHER BUSINESS & LATE EXTRAS The Chairman asked Representatives to be pro-active in their societies in publicising KASS and encouraging their members to attend events and buy tickets early. We need to be at full capacity to enable KASS to keep the ticket prices as low as possible. Roger welcomed an exchange of views, on what KASS is providing. The Autumn Dance and the Spring Ball are premier events, with the website and News Letter good methods of communication. The KASS Insurance is very competitive, as with fewer people dancing, the premium had been reduced.the premium is based on the number of people dancing per evening, not the number of clubs and is currently about 35 per club. The total premium should remain even if
more clubs join. Ken added that the KASS Diary is a big asset as it provides a co-ordination of events across the county and helps minimise clubs clashing on the same date. Roger would like to improve the sociability and mixing at dances, by dancing with newcomers, not booking some dances and sitting with new people. He had analysed the advertising in The Reel to see how KASS compared, the results indicated that more schools were used, with buffet dances in preference to lavish meals with a band. A spreadsheet was given out, to put into the file. Helen reminded people to collect their KASS Autumn Dance Tickets, to take with them, to save postage. The venue had nice facilities and they needed to get numbers in. David Papa mentioned that their leader Eileen was standing down and he would do an item for the News Letter, about her. DP Sheila reminded the meeting that Orpington had their dance this Saturday and their St Andrews Dance was on the 26 th November. The Chairman asked if the members preferred their teas at the end of the meetings, so that they could socialize afterwards. All voted to prefer having teas at the start. 15. DATE OF NEXT MEETING. Tuesday 5 th April 2011, at Cobtree Hall at 8.0pm. The Chairman thanked the members for attending and closed the meeting at 9.45 pm.